The Hero and the Champ
by arandomshipper
Summary: While passing through Demacia, Jax gains a travelling companion, much to his dismay. A certain Yordle who is convinced despite his protests that he MUST be the hero of Demacia. Rating is for violence.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

 **The Hero and the Champ**

Jax lay sprawled out on the forest floor, doing his very favorite thing in the entire world: sleeping. He loved to sleep, being a lazy man by nature. Similarly, his very least favorite thing in the world was being woken up. Not that he had to experience that very often. He had built a closing flap on the inside of his mask, so that rather than it granting only one-way vision, it would restrict his own vision as well. Thus, he could blissfully sleep well past noon at will, with no fear that the sun would intrude on his happy time. He slept unafraid of disturbance. Any animal with working instincts easily sensed the danger there. The forest was unnaturally silent in a five-mile radius from Jax's chosen resting place. He also had no fear of being disturbed by a sentient being. His reputation covered the realms, crossing national and even racial boundaries, and all knew of the consequences of waking him up. The dragons had a saying about letting sleeping Jaxes lie. Yes, there was not a single living being foolish enough to disturb his slumber.

"Jax, are you still sleeping? It's time to get going already! Actually, it's...well would you look at that! The sun's already out, we missed the dawn! We shoulda been gone an hour ago! Jax? Are you listening?"

Oh yes, except for her. The ever-positive, always energetic Yordle named Poppy that Jax, to his great misfortune, had somehow begun travelling with...the word 'somehow' in this case referring to her approaching him with the idea, refusing to take no for an answer, and finally simply following him around over his protests and vain attempts to elude her.

Now, Jax was a very deep sleeper. His innermost being rejected the very idea of waking up before he was ready. One might think this a detrimental trait for a warrior, but for him it was just the opposite. His subconsciousness searched out any disturbance that might force him awake, and used muscles and skills so honed that they no longer required conscious direction to eliminate that disturbance. This personal quirk of his was, of course, the cause of his reputation for being so dangerous while sleeping. He was not a particularly vicious person. Awake, he would often hold back his true fighting strength to make things interesting, occasionally even showing mercy, but asleep he had no such constraints.

Poppy approached the slothful figure, reaching out a hand to shake him awake. She never got the chance. The lamppost he carried everywhere with him, even while asleep, shot out in a crushing blow aimed at her head. A lesser being would have been unable to even see the attack before their head became pulp, but Poppy easily blocked with the buckler attached to her left arm.

"Oooh, sparing so early in the morning? You're really a go-getter, Jax!" She said approvingly, unslinging her hammer.

Jax, of course, didn't respond. However, his subconscious noted that the cause of the disturbance had NOT been eliminated, and commandeered more of his body's resources to remedy this. He got up, sleepwalking as it were, and proceeded to fall into one of his usual attack patterns. He gripped the lamppost with both hands and rained down blow after blow on his diminutive opponent, each consecutive attack gaining speed and strength. Poppy blocked all the blows easily at first, but as they got faster and stronger she had to commit more and more of her defenses to avoid being crushed.

The longer the fight went on, the closer to wakefullness Jax became, and the more his attacks began to resemble an actual strategy rather than simple overpowering strikes. Poppy began to take glancing blows here and there. She could no longer block with only her buckler, the blows were too strong. She now had to block every attack with both her buckler and her hammer, which sent Jax into his signature finishing patterns. He brought his lamppost down in what appeared to be a full-force strike, but was actually a feint. Poppy's buckler and hammer were both braced over her head for the strike, leaving her vulnerable when the makeshift weapon came down and around in a devastating blow to the chest. Jax came fully awake just as he was delivering the fatal blow. He tried to soften it, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. He struck Poppy directly on her breastplate, sending her flying more than a dozen feet backwards before crashing into a tree and collapsing facedown, unmoving on the ground.

 _Poor kid_ , Jax thought regretfully. Then he shrugged. _Oh well. At least I'll be able to go back to sleep now._ As he turned to do just that, he heard a strange sound. He spun back around to see Poppy pulling herself to her feet, laughing.

"Wow, Jax! Sparring with you is intense! They don't call you the champ for nothing!" She coughed and put her hand over the spot where she was struck. "I think I'm gonna need to do some work on this breastplate before it'll be useful again. You really pulverized it."

Jax's eyes bulged. Poppy couldn't see it, of course, which was the entire point of his mask, and his voice, ever apathetic, gave away none of his surprise. "Maybe you shouldn't get up so soon. That one looked like it hurt."

Poppy laughed again. "One thing about me: I'm not very good at staying down."

A/N: I've been threatening to do it, and I finally started it. A Jax/Poppy story. I don't know if the story will ever reach a point where we can actually call it a pairing though. Up til now, my romance stories have had a decided lack of...well...romance. Nevertheless, I do know approximately where I'm going with this, and I'm not stopping until I get there! Poppy would be so proud *sniff*. Hopefully we'll at least get a little fluffy before we get there.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a random shipper.

 **The Hero and the Champ**

As the intrepid pair trudged through the woods, the Yordle girl hummed a happy tune, while Jax just sighed. He had no idea how things had come to this. He didn't travel with other people; he was a loner by nature. He was also used to getting his way. The fact that he now had a companion, completely against his will, was baffling to him. Even though he could recall all the events leading up to it, he still had no idea how it had actually happened.

 _Jax's aimless wandering through the realms had taken him many places, some stranger than others. This no-name town at the edge of Demacia was as normal as normal could be. He mostly traveled off the beaten paths, though the wilderness where few dared to tread, seeing sights even fewer ever saw, but every once in a while he got the urge to sleep in a real bed, to eat food he didn't have to catch and cook himself, and yes, maybe to speak with another sentient being. Very briefly, of course. And so, he approached the largest inn in that little town...where fate saw fit to hand him his doom._

 _As he walked through the doors, every eye turned his way, and there was a collective gasp. His appearance was known throughout the realms, a legendary figure in his traditional cloak and mask that anyone would recognize and none would dare impersonate (not after the stories of what he had done the few times it had been tried). He approached the innkeeper and asked for room and board._

 _"Of course." The innkeeper gulped audibly. "It just so happens that our very best room has just opened up, and the meal tonight will be...I will talk to the cook. The very best of whatever we have available, I assure you. Complimentary, of course." A standard response wherever he went. He didn't even bother carrying money anymore. It was just useless weight when his reputation got him anything he wanted for free. He didn't bother with a thank you, just found an empty table in a corner to sit at and wait for his meal. The tension in the room was thick, everyone carefully avoiding looking at him at all costs, and scooting subltly away from his table when possible._

 _Minutes later, the doors of the inn opened again. The eyes in the room once again turned that direction, this time looking much further down to see the person walking in, a very unusual Yordle girl. Unusual for a number of reasons, starting with the manner of dress. Yordles did not typically wear any kind of armor, but this one was as fully decked out as a human knight. Also, Yordles had an affinity for weapons on the cutting edge of technology, often very clever weapons that worked in ways the average person could not even comprehend. This Yordle carried the most uncomplicated weapon imaginable, a giant hammer. But the biggest difference was the face. Yordles, as a rule, are a very flighty and frivolous people, tricky and mischievous, lovers of amusement, which typically showed in their features. This one...you could just see it. Strength, fortitude, honesty, determination, everything on display on that unguardedly expressive face. Not the face of a Yordle, the face of a soldier. A face that Jax found somehow slightly familiar._

 _"Innkeep! I'm gonna need to stay the night! Whacha got for me?" She said cheerfully._

 _"Of course I've always got something for you, Poppy! We'll get you fixed up. You'll need dinner too, the cook is getting right on it. It's gonna be a good one tonight, you don't want to miss it."_

 _"Excellent! How much do I owe you?"_

 _"No, no, your money is no good here, you know that! We go through this every time, Poppy! I won't have the town hero paying for a meal and a bed!" His manner was happy and personable, exactly the opposite of when he was dealing with Jax._

 _She smiled self-deprecatingly. "I'm no hero. Just a Yordle with a hammer. I'm telling you, anyone could've led that Mountain Drake away from the town."_

 _"Yes, but anyone else would've been eaten afterward. Besides, anyone didn't do it. You did it. You saved the town, and you will never pay for a meal here, not as long as I'm the Innkeeper."_

 _She shook her head ruefully. "I'm not going to change your mind on that, am I? Okay then, I'll let you treat me just this once."_

 _She scanned the room for a place to sit. Her eyes settled on the man in the corner. "Jax? Is that you?"_

 _She came over, displaying none of the fear and obsequiousness of the other occupants. Jax rarely remembered anyone he met: powerful mages, majestic kings, renowned warriors all blending together in his head as beneath his notice. But now Jax recognized_ her _, the mannerisms gave her away. No one else in all the realms treated him this way, as if he were just another person instead of a separate existence who should be feared. Poppy, the Yordle warrior he had met occasionally in the League of Legends, the one place in all the realms where he could really cut loose and go all out. The gathering place of all the most powerful beings in the realms, where they could unleash their dreadful strength and skill upon each other without consequence, as the magic of the Summoners protected them all from permanent harm. That legendary tournament where he had made his name as the Undefeated Champ, unmatched throughout all the realms in skill and strength. Even among legends he was a Legend of another kind, respected and feared by the other Champions. Except Poppy. Respect, yes. She respected everyone she met. But fear? Knowing her just a little, he thought she was probably not even capable of feeling such a thing._

 _He groaned internally as she came over to his table. He had no idea how to deal with her. He was a recluse by nature, used to keeping everyone at a distance, which was easy to achieve when everyone fears you more than death itself. His 'don't talk to me' aura was almost a physical thing, apparent to anyone with any sense. Sense that Poppy apparently did not have. Her innocence was the perfect weapon to bore holes right through his previously invincible barriers._

 _"Wow! It is you! What a coincidence, huh?" She sat uninvited at his table. Jax silently cursed his absent-minded nature. If he had just recalled that she made Demacia her home, he would've avoided this place like the plague. "So what brings you to Demacia?"_

 _"I like to travel. I don't really have a direction, I just go wherever my feet take me." Jax found himself unintentionally answering truthfully._

 _"Hm. That's cool, I guess. So where are you from originally?"_

 _"I don't know." Again, he answered without volition. His eyes widened beneath his mask. How was she doing this to him? He could see the wheels in her head turning as she came to some conclusion that he was sure he wouldn't like._

 _"So...for all you know, you could be from Demacia originally?"_

 _He tried. He desperately tried to lie. He KNEW that telling the truth would cause him trouble, so he tried to lie with all his might. He just couldn't do it. Her innocent face, devoid of deception, probably incapable of understanding the concept of one person tricking another, left him completely helpless. He answered. "Yes, that's possible. Very, very, very unlikely, but possible."_

 _"That's great!" She shouted happily._

 _"That's great?" He asked, confused, and dreading the answer._

 _"Yes! Don't you see? You're the one! The one I've been looking for all this time! I've finally found you!"_

 _Jax just stared at her silently for a few minutes, while she waited in breathless anticipation for his reaction. Finally he said, "I don't get it."_

 _She sighed in exasperation. "Look. Don't you know the legend of the hammer?" He shook his head. "Well, that's okay, I'll tell you now."_

 _"See, when Demacia was first formed, one of the leaders was this guy, Orlon. He was awesome, a really great warrior. I learned so much from him. This hammer was his, he used it to do all kinds of awesome stuff. He got old eventually, happens to the best of us. On his deathbed, he told me how the hammer was actually not made for him. It was forged very special, to be used by the Hero of Demacia, the only one who could keep Demacia together. He gave it to me, and just before he died, I promised him that I would find the Hero in his place and pass the hammer on. His face got kind of weird when I said that, and I think he tried to say something else, but then he died. So anyway, I've been looking for the Hero ever since. It's been a long, hard, disappointing road, but I finally made it! I found him!"_

 _Jax took this in. The story raised a number of questions in his mind. "So...you were there in the beginning, before the first king of Demacia?" She nodded. "How old...exactly...does that make you?" She shrugged. "But you look...and act-" he mumbled the last quietly "-so young!"_

 _"Yordles live longer than Humans. I'm still pretty young." She shrugged again._

 _"And you've been carrying the hammer around all these years since then?" She nodded again. "And doing things like what the innkeeper was talking about with the mountain drake." She shrugged, a little embarrassed. "And you were there with the hammer during all the wars with Noxus? And probably the negotiations with Ashe and Tryndamere. And every other major event in the nation's history." She nodded each time he stopped. "And you still haven't figured out-"_

 _"Look, would you stop stalling with all these pointless questions? It's obvious, alright? You're the Legendary Hero of Demacia! You're the Undefeated Champ of the League of Legends, you're probably from Demacia originally, and now you just 'happen' to wander in to Demacia right in front of me? There's no way that's all coincidence! My lifelong quest is finally at an end, now take the hammer and become the Hero you were always meant to be!"_

 _Jax was speechless. He didn't think it was possible for someone capable of intelligent thought to be this oblivious. The irony of her statement about coincidence was staggering. How could she not see? How could she not know? Everyone who met her knew, he was sure. "No."_

 _"No? What do you mean, no?" Poppy said, confusion all over her face._

 _"I mean, no, I'm not taking the hammer. I only use this lamppost. The League Admin restricted me from using any real weapon."_

 _Poppy scowled, her anger at being denied so close to her goal apparent. "I heard they redacted that sanction, and you are only using the lamppost because you're a stubborn git."_

 _Jax almost choked at that. HER calling HIM stubborn? Yes indeed, she had no ability to sense irony whatsoever. "Either way, I'm not taking the hammer. I'm not a hero, I'm not from Demacia, and even if I am, I don't give a rat's a$$ about Demacia and her people, and I'm just passing through. I'm not even staying in Demacia. Take that hammer and shove it...somewhere." Guilt attacked him like Swain's Ravenous Flock when he was about to say something vulgar to the innocent little Yordle."_

 _Poppy's eyes narrowed, then she smiled. "Well I'm not giving up. I've waited this long, I can wait til you come around. I'll just travel along with you until then."_

 _"No, you won't." Jax said forcefully._

 _Poppy frowned. "Yes, I will."_

 _"No, you won't."_

 _"Yes, I will."_

 _"NO YOU WON"T!"_

Her tenacity was beyond belief. He used every trick in the book, and some he invented himself on the spot, to lose her. She always found him again, popping up like a Poppy when he least expected it. Eventually, he gave up trying to lose her and just resigned himself to his fate. They settled into a routine. Every day, she'd offer him the hammer, and every day he'd turn her down. At some point, she took total control of the travelling. He had no idea how or when, but now it resembled a guided tour of Demacia in which she constantly pointed out all the reasons one would want to live here, instead of his usual aimless wandering. He could only shake his head at her inhuman persistence.

"Hurry up, Jax! There's another really cool town just a few hours ahead that I really want to show you!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming."

Maybe it wasn't so bad. Her enthusiasm was infectious. At the least, it was never boring, having her around.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a Yordle with a hammer.

 **The Hero and the Champ**

The routine was changed a bit as one day, Poppy's boundless enthusiasm dampened down quite a lot, making their travelling noticeably quieter. Jax, after weeks of getting used to her mannerisms, detected the change in her behavior instantly, but elected to wait and watch rather than inquiring. Curiosity wasn't ordinarily part of his nature, to the point that he hardly recognized the emotion when it reared its ugly head. Suppressing it came much more naturally to him than indulging it would have.

They were somewhere close to the border of the Freljord by Jax's estimation when Poppy finally broke the silence.

"So, uh...I've got some...things...I've got to take care of. I'll be back in a few hours. Don't...don't run off while I'm gone, okay?"

Jax smiled invisibly behind his mask. Poppy trying to be subtle and secretive was one of the most amusing things he had ever seen in his life. "Why don't I just come with you? Then you can be sure I won't take off." He said in his usual monotone.

"No! I mean, no. That's okay. I'm not doing anything interesting. It's just...um...lady stuff! It's laaaaady stuff. Okay?" She said suggestively, with an exaggerated wink.

Jax struggled to keep from bursting out in laughter. "Do you even know what that means?"

"Of course I do!" Poppy's response was very indignant, and very unconvincing.

"Oh. Of course you do. So you're going to..." Jax proceeded to describe 'lady stuff' in explicit detail.

"Stop, stop, stop!" Poppy had her hands over her ears, blushing furiously. "That's gross! How do you even know that stuff anyway? Don't answer that!" she said quickly when Jax started to speak. "Okay, fine, so I'm not doing lady stuff! I'm...um...I just gotta go to the bathroom, okay?"

"To the bathroom."

"Yeah."

"For a couple of hours."

"I'm...really backed up?"

"Okay."

"No, really, I'm...wait, okay?"

"Yeah. Everybody poops, right? Go ahead, I'll just wait here."

"Okay!" Poppy said in relief. She started to leave, then turned back suspiciously. "And you're not going to run away while I'm gone?"

"Absolutely not." Jax responded, and he was absolutely telling the truth. This may have been a once in a lifetime chance to finally escape her for good, but there was no way he was taking it only to miss out on finding out what she was trying to hide from him.

"Good." She said, relieved once more. In the motion of leaving, she turned back to Jax again. "You know, a lot of people tell me that I'm too trusting, that I'll just get fooled over and over again. But there's this feeling you get when you trust someone, and they come through for you. Suspicious people never get to experience that. It's definetely worth being tricked a few times along the way to find the people you can really count on."

As she disappeared from sight, Jax felt a pang in his chest. She really was unique. Her ability to trust him again after all the times he tried to escape her already was something special. It almost made him rethink his plan...but in the end, he'd only promised not to run off. It wasn't his fault she never told him not to follow her. Technicality is the soul of lawmaking...or something like that, Jax wasn't really sure, he'd never paid much attention to laws. But it sounded good, anyway.

 **JPJPJPJPJPJPJPJP**

Even though he rarely employed it (read: didn't need it), Jax actually had quite a bit of skill in stealth. Tailing Poppy undetected was child's play. His curiosity grew as they actually crossed the border into the Freljord. The comparative lack of trees in the Freljord meant he had to follow from a greater distance than before. Thus, he was unable to hear the initial exchange between her and the troll guards at the entrance to an enormous cave impressively decked out like a human castle, moat and all. As he approached, the conversation became more audible.

"Fang."

"Nope."

"Eat."

"Nope."

"Okay, um...can you give me a hint?"

"It's a thing."

Poppy brightened. "Club!"

"Nope."

"Dang it." She snapped her fingers. "I really thought I had it that time."

Another, more officious looking troll approached. "What's taking her so long? She should have been here a while ago." He asked the first troll. Then he saw Poppy. "Oh, you're here. Why are you still outside? We've been expecting you in the throne room."

"He said I needed to guess the password before I can come inside." She replied, gesturing to the troll guard.

The new arrival scowled at him. "Quit wasting time, you idiot! There's no password, Ambassador. Please follow me."

"Hokey dokey."

When they were no longer in earshot, the first troll guard burst out laughing. The second shook his head. "You shouldn't lie to the ambassador like that. You could get in trouble."

The first snorted. "That stupid little yordle isn't going to do anything. You ask me, we should send her bones back to Demacia."

"You think no one's ever tried that before? That's the whole reason she's been Demacia's abassador to us for aba-ba-ba-ba-!"

The second troll began stuttering at the sudden appearance of the figure behind the first troll. The first troll began to turn to see what he was looking at, but never completed the motion. Jax knocked him out cold with a casual swing of his lamppost as he strolled past without a word. The second troll continued stuttering, frozen in place, long after he was out of sight.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I'm not an owner, I'm just a Yordle with a hammer.

 **The Hero and the Champ**

Jax slipped into the throne room unnoticed just in time to hear the announcement.

"Presenting to His Majesty, King Trundle I, the official ambassador of King Jarvan III of Demacia, Poppy!"

Trundle cut quite the impressive figure, sitting on the elaborate throne of True Ice with a regally bored demeanor, one elbow on an armrest to prop his chin up with a raised fist, Boneshiver leaning against the throne within easy reach. On the smaller side for Trollkind, he was nonetheless massive enough to make the already tiny Yordle look as small as a bug, especially with the throne standing on a dias. The mere sight of him in all his trollish glory would no doubt send even the most hardened and experienced of diplomats into incomprehensible stutters.

"Hiya, Trundle! Haven't seen you on the Rift in a while! Busy with, uh, government stuff?"

The Troll King sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. His announcer was scandalized. "Ambassador Poppy! You are to refer to His Majesty as KING Trundle! And do not waste the King's time with small talk!"

"Oops, sorry! I forgot." Poppy rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "So, King Trundle, whacha been up to lately?"

"Ambassador Poppy! You-"

"Forget it. You're not getting through that thick skull. Believe me, I've been trying for years. Not even Boneshiver can do the job. Leave us." Trundle waved his announcer off. With the other troll gone, he turned his attention back to Poppy. "Yes, I've been busy. No, I'm not planning to hit the Rift soon. Small talk over. Now hurry up and present the annual terms. Every minute you're here hurts my image."

"Sorry." Poppy said contritely. "I do TRY to remember all that official stuff. Really. Okay. Terms. Terms. What are the terms? I was sure I knew them. Did I write them down? Where-"

Trundle let out a groan of incomparable suffering. "Your left pouch! Why do I have to remind you EVERY SINGLE TIME?!"

"Oh! Right. Sorry." Poppy opened a pouch on her hip and pulled out a scroll with the official seal of Demacia's royal house. Puffing out her chest, she began to speak in as official a manner as she could muster. "The renewing of the terms of the annual treaty between the Trolls of the Freljord and the state of Demacia has been approved by King Jarvan III, signed and sealed. The terms are as follows:" She deflated. "Do I have to read this part? It's really long and boring. You already know everything in there anyway, right?"

"Fine. Whatever. Let's just throw the whole book out. I should be used to this by now." Said Trundle long-sufferingly. "I assume it's all the same as last year. The trolls shall not cross the borders in numbers larger than fifty without advance notice and consent. Consumption of livestock by individual trolls shall be compensated. Consumption of citizens of Demacia shall be considered an act of war. I still think I should've pushed for more lenient terms on that last one. What's wrong with eating a serf or two along the way? Share and share alike, I say! Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. These terms shall be upheld and punishment enacted by Poppy the Bearer of the Hammer, as the Hero of Demacia has not yet been found."

"Oh! I've got a...what's it called...a, a, an alteration! I've got an alteration to this year's treaty!" Poppy said excitedly. "I found the Hero!"

Jax, who had been so bored he had nearly fallen asleep standing up in his shadowy corner of the room, perked up at that.

"Did you." Trundle said complacently. He began pulling on a fang with his finger. "Good. I hope he's as tasty as the last one was."

Poppy scowled. "Okay, so maybe I was wrong last time, but this time it's really him! He's the real Hero! I'd like to see you try to eat him."

"So would I." The Troll King gave a ghastly grin. "As per the treaty, attacks on the Bearer of the Hammer shall not be considered acts of war against Demacia. I can't wait to meet him."

"You've already met him." Poppy said proudly. "It's Jax."

Trundle went expressionless. "Jax." Poppy nodded. "The Champion." She nodded again. "Is the Hero of Demacia." A third nod. He exploded with laughter. He laughed so hard he bent over double.

"What? What's so funny?" Poppy said defensively.

"Jax is the Hero! Does HE know that?"

"Of course!" She retorted. "Kind of. I mean, I told him he was, but he didn't actually-stop laughing!" Trundle laughed even harder.

"Oh! Oh! This is good! I'm glad you came today after all, Poppy! I needed a good laugh! Jax is the Hero of JAX!" Trundle's laughter died in an instant and he curled back up on his throne in terror as the subject of conversation finally decided to show himself.

"Oh, hi Jax. Fancy meeting you here...heh, heh." Poppy said guiltily. "Ummmm...how much did you hear?"

"If you're asking whether or not I heard you trying to make me out to be the Hero of Demacia without me knowing, the answer is yes."

"I can explain! I just-I was trying-I-I-I'm sorry." She hung her head in shame.

"It's okay. I'm not mad." He patted her head. If anything, he was amazed she was capable of this kind of duplicity. "Just don't do it again."

"Okay." Poppy raised her head with that signature determined look in her eye. "But mark my words, you will accept it one day. You are the Hero of Demacia."

"But you're not, right?" Trundle broke in. "You're not aligned with Demacia, are you?"

"No."

"Oh, thank Lissandra!" He let out a relieved breath. "I though I was in real trouble for a minute there. So, Poppy. No alterations? We have the same treaty as last year?"

"Fine." Poppy growled. "Same treaty as last year. No alterations. Already signed and sealed by King Jarvan III, now awaiting the signature of Trundle, troll chief of the Freljord."

"Not troll chief! Troll King! KING!" Trundle roared. Then he glanced at Jax and recoiled. "I mean, that is to say, I would prefer it if you would use my official title when addressing me. Please."

"Right. I knew that. Sorry." Poppy knocked herself on the head. She handed the scroll to Trundle, who signed and sealed it and shoved it back to her as quickly as possible. "Alrighty, I guess I'm done here. See you out on the Rift next time, Trundle?"

"That's-" But she was out the door before he could finish the sentence. "Whatever. Good riddance." He turned to Jax. "Why are you hanging around that little insane asylum anyway? If you don't mind my asking."

"I have no idea." Jax replied honestly.

"Hmm. You know that she's actually-"

"Of course I do."

"And she has no idea. There's something wrong with her head. I don't think I'd want to eat those brains even if I could break through that thick skull of hers."

"It's actually a bit amusing." Jax admitted. He leaned forward infinitesimally. Trundle drew back in fear. "Also, if I were you, I'd cut back on the breaking her skull open and eating her brains talk. Amusement in any amount is a rarity for me. Interfering with anything I am even mildly entertained by is not what I would call an intelligent life choice."

Trundle swallowed hard. "Noted."

Jax made a swift and silent exit. Trundle did not relax his tensed muscles until many long hours after he was out of sight.


End file.
